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The OSAPS Fall 2020 Meeting will be hosted by the Ohio State University, Department of Physics, on October 16 – 17 (Virtual)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OSAPS fall 2020 meeting at the Ohio State University has been moved online. The meeting is virtual and free to attendees. The theme of the meeting is “Heavy ion collisions and Astrophysics”. The meeting will start on Friday 16 October with a welcome address by Professor Michael Poirier, Ohio State University Physics Department Chair. Plenary presentations will be given by Professor Helen Caines, Yale University, STAR Collaboration Spokesperson; Professor Roy Lacey, Stony Brook University; Professor Amy Connolly, Ohio State University; Dr. Tuguldur Sukhbold, Ohio State University; and, the APS 2020 Distinguished Lectureship award Prize winner Professor Thirumalai Venkatesan of National University of Singapore. SPS Zone 7 meeting begins on October 16 in the afternoon. Details of the meeting can be found on the meetings webpage https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/lisa.1/OSAPS2020/.

Abstract submission for contributed oral and poster presentation has been extended to October 8.
Note, you do not need to be an APS member to register for the meeting. Non-APS members will first need to register for an APS account, after which point they can login to register for the meeting. Student members can join APS for free for the first year.

Join your colleagues for two days of collaboration, learning and communication at the virtual Fall 2020 meeting of the OSAPS, hosted by the Ohio State University.

*Undergraduate and Graduate Research Poster Awards:
The OSAPS section will give two awards: one for the best undergraduate and, for the first time, one for the best graduate poster presentation. Each of the $100 awards will be given by the section awards committee.

Report from the OSAPS spring 2020 Meeting at John Carroll University (cancelled)

The spring 2020 meeting, which was to be a joint meeting of the OSAPS, OS AAPT, and SPS Zone 7 at John Carroll University was cancelled due to the university closing because of the COVD-19 pandemic. John Carroll University has rescheduled to host the spring 2021 meeting.

Report from the OSAPS fall 2019 Meeting at Kettering University, October 11-12

The OSAPS fall 2019 meeting was hosted by Kettering University, Department of Physics on October 11-12. Themeeting was jointly held with the Michigan Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (MIAAPT) and SPS Zone 7. The theme of the meeting was “Physics and the Society”. This theme was chosen to stimulate discussions about the role Physics Research and Education have historically and continue to play in the context of today’s dynamic technology-driven social changes. A total of six plenary speakers, 30 oral and 49 poster presentations were given. An OSAPS Business Meeting was held prior to the formal OSAPS conference kick-off.

The meeting opened on Friday, 11 October at 1 p.m. with a welcoming address by Kettering University President Robert McMahan – an astrophysicist and professor of Physics himself. The plenary presentations were given by Howard Jackson, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Cincinnati; Lisa Lapidus, Professor of Biological Physics, Michigan State University; Bahram Roughani, Professor of Physics and Associate Dean of Applied and Natural Sciences, Loyola University Maryland; Greg Sun, Professor and Chair, Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts at Boston; Xueding Wang, Professor, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Radiology; and, Craig Williams, NASA Glenn Research Center. The Friday evening banquet dinner and invited talk took place at the elegant Flint Institute of Art.

Contributed poster sessions took place on Friday afternoon and the parallel sessions were held on Saturday morning.

A unique feature of the meeting was a share-a-thon/workshop held on Saturday afternoon and organized by local members and contributors to the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA) in continuation of the OSAPS meeting. In parallel, attendees could visit labs of the Physics Department at Kettering University. MIAAPT organized activities took place on Saturday afternoon.

Before the concluding remarks, the Undergraduate Research Poster Award was presented to Brandon Reese of Miami University for his poster entitled: "Observation of two superconducting phase transitions in NbNi_{2-x}Cu_{x}Sn Heusler alloys”

The local organizing committee consisted of Professors Corneliu Rablau and Uma Ramabadran, with significant support from the Department of Physics at Kettering. The conference received financial support from OSAPS.

State Science Day

OSAPS sponsors the Gordon Aubrecht Physics Award for Outstanding Physics Projects at the annual State Science Day of the Ohio Academy of Science. This year, State Science Day was held virtually due to COVID-19.  Awardees are selected by the Southern Ohio Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers [SOH-AAPT].  First, second and third prizes were awarded in three age categories: Elementary, Middle and High School. The first place in Elementary School was awarded to Ethan Carr for “Putting a Lid on Energy Waste”. The first place in Middle School was awarded to Dana Stan for “Solar Water Heater”. The first place in High School was awarded to Dasha Crocker for “Should I Observe Tonight?  Determining Limiting Magnitude in Bellbrook, OH.”

If you are interested in helping with the judging at future State Science Days, please contact the OSAPS section chair.

Dr. Robert Brown Endowed Gifts: The “Doc Brown Fund”

In December 2019 the section received a generous endowment of $30,000 from Robert W Brown, Distinguished University Professor and Institute Professor at Case Western Reserve University. Professor Brown is a long-time member of the Ohio-Region Section and was section chair in 2001-2002. This endowment will fund the $100 Doc Brown Ohio-Region Section Poster Awards for undergraduate and graduate posters. These will be given at each of the section meetings. It will also fund the annual Doc Brown Ohio-Region Section Young Investigator Award for an outstanding junior faculty who actively mentors physics majors. Each of these awards will be accompanied by an award certificate. The Young Investigator Award will also support travel to the meeting. Information about the nominating process for the Young Investigator Award is posted on the section website.

Honors and Awards Committee News

Nominations for either the Howard Maxwell Award for Distinguished Service or the William Fowler Award for Distinguished Research in Physics are accepted for consideration throughout the year. Nominations should be submitted to the Chair of the Honors and Awards Committee, Mike Crescimanno at dcphtn@gmail.com.

OSAPS Executive Committee Spring Elections

OSAPS held their annual election cycle last Winter and our newly elected members of OSAPS Executive Committee are given below 

• Vice-Chair: Niklas Manz, The Wooster College
• Treasurer:  Donald Priour, Youngstown State University 
• Student Member: Krystin Brandenburg, Ohio University

Thank you to all the candidates and everyone who voted.  

We also want to thank our outgoing Executive Committee officers for their generous and excellent service. Petru Fodor ended his one-year term as Past Chair and Anthony Roy Day ended his one-year term as Chair. Donald Priour finished a three-year term as Treasurer and has returned as Treasurer, and Crew Weunski finished a one-year term as student Member-at-Large. 

There will be elections next spring for the positions of 

• Vice-Chair
• Member at large
• Student Member

Please consider nominating candidates (including yourself) for one of these important positions. Nominations should be sent to the Chair of the OSAPS Nominations Committee: Jay Mathews.

Upcoming Meetings

Fall 2020, October 16 – 17
The Ohio State University (Virtual)

Spring 2021
John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio

If you would like to explore the possibility of hosting a future meeting, please contact Vice-Chair, Niklas Manz.

Help Spread the Word about OSAPS

Not all APS members living in the Ohio Region (Ohio, Michigan and Indiana) are OSAPS members. Talk to your colleagues and let them know that membership in OSAPS is free and allows the section to continue in its efforts of providing quality meetings and active communications with its members through mailings, newsletters and email. OSAPS offers physicists the opportunity to attend multi-disciplinary meetings to discuss important research with your colleagues within the region, and it provides an excellent opportunity for both undergraduate and graduate students to present their research results. As most members reside or work in this area, participation in sectional meetings has the additional benefit of economy; this is particularly important for students. To join OSAPS, go to http://www.aps.org/membership/services/ or contact a Membership Representative at 301-209-3280.

Current OSAPS Executive Committee

Chair: Cynthia Aku-Leh (05/20 - 04/21) 
ISciences

Chair-Elect: Jay Mathews (05/20 - 04/21)  
University of Dayton

Vice Chair:  Niklas Manz (05/20 - 04/21) 
The Wooster College

Past Chair: Anthony Roy Day (05/20 - 04/21) 
John Carroll University

Secretary: Ulrich Zurcher (05/19 - 04/22) 
Cleveland State University

Treasurer: Donald Priour (05/20 - 04/23) 
Youngstown State University

Member-at-Large: Andrea Richard (05/18 - 04/21) 
Michigan State University

Member-at-Large: Zifeng Yang (05/19 - 04/22) 
Wright State University

Student Member: Krystin Brandenburg (05/20 - 04/21) 
Ohio University

Non-voting Officials and Special Appointees:

Honors & Awards Committee:

• Mike Crescimanno, Youngstown State University (Chair)
• Uma Ramabadran, Kettering University
• Julie Roche, Ohio University

Archivist: Perry P. Yaney
University of Dayton

This OSAPS newsletter was edited by Cynthia Aku-Leh, OSAPS chair.

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The articles in this newsletter represent the views of their author(s) and are not necessarily those of the Unit or APS.